A lifetime resident of the capital district, Thomas D'Ambrose has been a performing musician for the Past 30 years. He has recorded and performed throughout the northeast with the critically acclaimed group THE SHARKS. He also performed and recorded with Albany rock luminaries Blotto and appeared in a Blotto MTV video. Tom received his B.S. in Music Education from the College of St. Rose and M.S. in Educational Communications from the University at Albany. Over the past few years he has taken an interest in the local art scene and in 2001 co-founded The TRINK Gallery in Cohoes, N.Y. with Nadia Trinkala and Robert Gullie. The Trink Gallery presented some exciting shows, most notably Visions and Vibrations the Visual Art of Musicians which featured artwork and performances by a talented group of musician/artists.

Over The last few years Tom has been experimenting by producing and showing a wide variety of art. One of his favorite subjects is his rescued Great Pyrenees CJ. He also likes to feature a variety of jungle animals in his art which are transformed into colorful and stylized primitive representations of these spectacular creatures. Tom has recently been focussing on Painting, Mixed Media and Illustration. He loves to incorporate vintage wall paper into his Mixed Media work. He has a large collection of wall paper that he has been collecting for the past 20 years. For many of his pieces he likes to use found or discarded canvases and likes to keep part of the original work incorporated into the finished pieces. Tom is currently using a 200 year old school house just outside of Albany New York as his studio.

Artists Statement :

As a totally self taught artist I feel no pressure to follow any rules concerning my art. This combined with a limited natural drawing ability gives my work a child like primitive innocence. Pressed for a label I would have to describe my work as Naive Primitive. I am currently focusing on large mixed media works and acrylic paintings and smaller illustrations. All of my mixed media work features vintage wallpaper which I have been collecting for about 20 years.

In many of my pieces I like to use found or discarded canvases. I try to keep some small part of the original work from these canvases incorporated into a finished piece. My current collection features spectacular zoological and botanical specimens which I attempt to transform into colorful and stylized primitive representations. My goal is to hopefully capture a certain magical feeling of innocence and wonder for the natural world.

I had a great time at the oppening of the Fresh Produce show. If you have not seen it yet, please stop by the UAG. My work is in the back room through Nov. 27th 2009. Thanks to everyone at the UAG for this great opportunity and to everyone who came out to see the show.